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Ian Evatt is determined to add more goals to Dapo Afolayan’s game.
After watching his winger net just once on loan from West Ham in League Two last season, the Wanderers is adamant he can get into better scoring positions this season.
Afolayan has wowed the Bolton fans with his silky skills but the lack of a finishing product gives him and the manager something to work on after promotion.
“He’s a really talented player and we are delighted he has committed his future to us,” Evatt said. “But the one thing missing from his game is regular goals and when you are playing in a front three, you have to add goals to your game.
“He is getting himself in better positions and if we can get him with his quality inside the box, he always ends up beating his defender and getting shots off and that is important.
“He got one against Blackburn but there was also one occasion first half, where Declan John crossed it and he was ball-watching, sleeping out on the right wing. If he was in on the back post he is challenging Harry Pickering for that and there are goals in that back post, we see it with Man City all the time.
“It is just getting him used to that, repetitive and positive messaging and eventually he’ll get it.”
One concern Evatt does not have with Afolayan is physical condition – with the winger featuring prominently in all the pre-season games to date.
Although there are question marks on the condition of a few of his players, Evatt reckons fans could see the difference in those who have been able to stay illness, absence and injury free over the summer during the Blackburn game.
“Dapo is one of the ones who hasn’t missed anything,” he said. “And I think that is the point to make, really, that the ones that have had an uninterrupted pre-season you could see - Dapo, MJ Williams, Josh Sheehan, Sarce, Alex Baptiste, Gethin - those players have all had an uninterrupted pre-season and managed the game and 90 minutes really well.
“The others, you can see they’re fatiguing quicker, but they’ll improve in time.”
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